1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to: a switch device designed to turn on and off in accordance with press manipulation; and a vehicle door outer handle system in which the switch device is installed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among switch devices, there is one which includes: a switch housing case having an opening portion; a holder having a tubular holder main portion and being fixedly placed inside the switch housing case in a position corresponding to the opening portion, at least one end on the opening portion side of the holder main portion being opened; a switch including a portion to he pressed, and housed in and fixed to the inside of the holder main portion of the holder in a way that changes a switching mode in accordance with action of pressing force on the portion to be pressed; and a switch button including a press manipulation portion which is placed inside the opening portion, being capable of operating in a way that makes the pressing force act on the switch in accordance with manipulation of the press manipulation portion, and being placed in a way that covers one end portion of the holder main portion. In addition, Japanese Patent No. 4211471 makes known a switch device in which: a switch case, in which a switch is housed, is fixedly placed inside a vehicle door outer handle; a switch cap covering the switch is attached to the switch case; and a switch button configured to cause pressing force to act on the switch through the switch cap is supported by the outer handle.
The switch device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4211471 is designed in a way that: the center portion of the switch button made of rubber material, whose outer peripheral portion is fixedly supported by the outer handle, deforms toward the switch due to the action of the press manipulation force; and the pressing force from the switch button acts on the switch through the switch cap. On the other hand; a switch button made of hard synthetic resin is desirably used rather than the rubber-made switch button in terms of design. In such a case, when the press manipulation force acts on the switch button, the switch button moves as a whole and applies the pressing force on the switch. In a case where either of the two types of switch buttons whose operational modes are different from each other as mentioned above is intended to be selectively used, the choice between the two types of switch buttons can be easily made if no changes need to be made to the parts exclusive of the switch buttons, leading to enhancement of the design quality.